2005 Business Underblogger Awards

Do you know of (or run) a quality ‘Entrepreneurial’ or ‘Business’ Blog that deserves a bit of extra attention? Do you read one that you wish others knew about? Nominate it now in the 2005 Business Underblogger Awards! Read on to find out how!

Now that the 2005 Business Blogging Awards are out of the way and that some of the higher profile business blogs have had their recognition, I want to propose that we hold the ‘2005 Business UNDERblogger Awards’.

Huh?!? What’s an ‘Underblogger’ you ask?

Well it all started a couple of years ago when on my personal blog I wrote a post asking people to nominate quality blogs that they knew of that didn’t have the exposure that they deserved. They are Underblogs – as in they fly under the radar despite the fact that perhaps they deserve to join the select few that tend to get nominated for mainstream blogging awards.

I was amazed by the response that I got when I opened the first ‘Celebrating the Underblog’ awards in 2003 – 100 nominations in all. In 2004 I did it again and ended up with around 500. It was a massive response and whilst in the process a lot of blogs were nominated that I personally didn’t enjoy the exercise did unearth some amazing blogs that I continue to read to this day. I had a lot of feedback from bloggers thanking me for the exposure but also for helping them to discover new quality blogs.

So I got to thinking the other day after the Business Blogging Awards that whilst the project did unearth some great blogs that I’d not heard of before – that there MUST be more out there that didn’t receive a nomination that deserve some recognition.

I can think of a few myself that I’m going to nominate – blogs that were not mentioned in the other awards but who consistently write quality content. So the 2005 Business Underblogger Awards was born in my mind and has percolated away ever since. So here is how it is going to work:

• In the comments section below I am inviting you to nominate up to 5 Business/Entrepreneurial/Professional Underblogs.
• Leave the URL (hyperlink it if you know how) of the blog and a very short reason for your nomination (1 sentence maximum).
• I will collate the nominations and add them to a page that will contain all nominations – arranged alphabetically
• There is no ultimate winner – all nominations are acknowledged as being worthy of an award (at least by those that nominated them). The point is not about identifying ‘the best’ but rather about showing the breadth and diversity of those blogging in this way.
• Nominations will be received until the end of March at which point I will not collate nominations any more.
• I will not judge who is or isn’t a Business, Entrepreneurial or Professional blogger – I’ll leave that to you. I will not judge who is worthy of the ‘underblogger’ status – again that is your call.
• You can nominate your own blog – but if you do please also nominate at least another two or three blogs that you also read.

Again – this is not a competition, its not about ‘the best’, its not overly serious or something to get worked up about – however it will hopefully be a fun project that exposes some new blogs to the ProBlogging community and helps us all make some new blogging friends.

So without further ado – I now officially declare the 2005 Business Underblogger Awards OPEN!!!! Nominate away…

I like the idea of spotlighting less popular blogs, I wanted to offer up my own (which is Personal Finance related) which is only a month or so old and definitely not popular enough to be considered an Underblogger. :)

Richard Hall’s Managing the Business of Law blog is a great read on a business and professional topic…managing the business relationship between in-house and outside counsel, establishing firm practice performance metrics, and establishing business unit intelligence.

Yeah, I’m submitting my blog, http://www.HackingNetflix.com, because it has excellent coverage of the DVD-by-mail industry (Netflix, Blockbuster, Amazon, etc.) but also because it is an unusual example of interaction between a company (Netflix) and a blogger.

Since everyone is shamelessly promoting their own blogs, I figured I’d join in the fun. It’s less than a month old, but I started out a business/technology blog at http://www.alltheseideas.com which covers various aspects of technology, business books, gadgets, etc.

UNDERblogger Awards
ProBlogger is running a contest of sorts for Underblogs – quality blogs that don’t have the exposure that they deserve. They are the B-list or C-list blogs according to this loose interpretation-

Underblogger Awards
Allright, it’s not really an award – more of a “spread the word” type of event about quality blogs that deserve more readership, but I figured I’d spread the word about the Underblogger awards that are running on Problogger right…

In the world of legal and accounting firm marketing, what works is an odd mix of political campaigning, consumer tactics, relationship development, and dating. At http://www.marketingcatalyst.blogspot.com I’ve been writing about good and bad marketing ideas, sometimes an evangelist and sometimes a pundit. Though I have a small group of loyal readers Marketing Catalyst would love to get beyond the “C-List”.

Personal Finance Blogs in the News
Terri Cullen for The Wall Street Journal Online profiled personal finance blogs in an article the other day. The journalist had contacted me for an interview, but unfortunately we couldn’t hook up. That’s too bad; I could have used the…

My blog, microISV, focuses on creating and building small software companies. My recommendation is Ripples for David’s insights into the corporate world and building your own business when you leave corporate life.

So, is this like, a demotion? Since Behind The Mortgage was nominated for the 2005 Business Blogging Awards (best real estate blog) as well? Too funny – but were not complaining – we’ll take any exposure we can get. Thanks guys.

I’d like to shamelessly nominate BusinessBits (business news). It’s typically a concise yet analytical look at some of the more interesting and influential business events. Also included: book reviews, opinion, tips, etc.

I nominate the following:
Michele Miller at Wonderbranding (www.wonderbranding.com) – highly focused on marketing to women
Katherine Stone at Decent Marketing (decentmarketing.typepad.com) – yes, it’s my blog which has been around for over a year and is doing great and I love it and I love my readers so how could I resist?
John Moore at Brand Autopsy (brandautopsy.typepad.com) – I always find it interesting to read, never dull

Gotta tell you, when it comes to under, I am a bottom-feeder. First I’ll nominate my own two blogs, CoachEzines & BizBook Nuggets, then I’ll tell you about the other good ones I know. http://Www.Coachezines.com may be too narrow a niche to get any massive readership, but it’s quality, and http://www.bizbooknuggets.com is a new blog with book snippets for busy professionals. I also have a good blog blog, with Denise Wakeman, http://www.buildabetterblog.com, for learning the tricks of good pro biz blogging. My associate Denise Wakeman has a super interesting blog on internet marketing strategies and tips, http://www.biztipsblog.com, and finally, Jane Thilo has an excellent read, again a narrow niche, for physicians in a leadership role, http://www.leadersgofirst.com, or http://janethilo.typepad.com/leaders_go_first/. These are all quality blogs, just for small independent professionals, and we may never hit the big numbers, but go for quality.

Thanks for the opportunity to list some business blogs. First, I do want to list mine, http://ttmitchellconsulting.com/Mitchblog/, on many different topics including leadership and diversity. Next I want to list Digitization 101, http://hurstassociates.blogspot.com, which talks about digital data storage in many different formats. Next I’d like to nominate Tom McMahon’s blog, http://www.tommcmahon.net, where he talks about all sorts of business topics. The final one I’d like to bring up is Azriel Winnett’s blog, at http://hodu.com/blog. His blog is relatively new, but it’s attached to his webpage, and he’s always talked about the importance of great communication skills.

Thanks, and it’s good to see some other blogs that I read listed here.

I nominate http://www.McChronicles.blogspot.com. The McChronicles is all about the “C” in the McDonald’s B2C proposition. The McChronicles champions the customer’s point of view in the day-to-day McDonald’s consumer experience with the goal of helping McDonald’s better-satisfy the customer. Unique, focused, and meaningful.

[…] Another time I flipped an idea was back in March when I ran my first annual ProBlogger Underblogger Awards. Again the idea started as a normal Awards post but flipping it to be an award with a twist took it to a more unique place. […]